Rail-Fanning in India

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Last Sunday I headed south of Chennai to Kolavai Lake at 4:00am for a sunrise shot over the lake at 5:30am. We parked the car near a temple where already at 5:15am they were getting ready for a wedding event – auspicious time driven.

We headed for the lake first walking under the flyover (elevated roadway) then over an abandoned railroad track and headed towards a (manual) railway crossing including a local crossing guard who gave us our set of final directions. We turned left down the track for 300m to reach an opening on the lakeside. We kept to the left most set of three tracks given it’s used for switching, i.e. non-active. All this was in the pitch dark with a little flashlight showing the path. An interesting walk to say the least while maneuvering around meadow muffins.

After taking images of the sunrise (see below) we hung out watching the trains pass by, first at a slow speed around the bend then accelerating in the straight. Took the chance to do some rail-watching (rail-fanning) with people living on the edge, or actually hanging out over the edge of the train.

There is something special about rail watching as even with what we consider today as low-tech makes us slowdown and enjoy old-time travel the way is should be. Who doesn't love a steam engine.

The US has no real rail service worth mentioning other than the Amtrak northern route with adventures like this one to Yosemite National Park. In Australia, I took the rail for travel to and from work then into Sydney on the weekends. Of course we know European and British railways are efficient / effective yet here in India it has a flavor of its own. Love it.

Here are some images in IR, Non-IR, Color and B&W processed with the previous mentioned Digital / Color Zone system plus seasoned to taste with Topaz Lab.